The Dark Knight vs Fight Club - Movie Review Example

Critical Analysis: The Dark Knight vs. Fight Club Introduction A comparison between The Dark Knight and Fight Club indicates a lot of similarity with regard to their filmic characteristics. This can be seen in two perspectives. To begin with, the main antagonists in the films can be seen to be having some similarities. They both have a problem with the people of the societies they live and believe the society should be changed in order to make it a better place. In The Dark Knight for instance, The Joker tries to convert the society and turn them into what he is, an unsocial sadist. In Fight Club Tyler Durden is desperate to turn people from consumerism. Although the two films are years apart with regard to their production and release dates, they seem to be having the same themes. For instance, in Fight Club, Tyler Durden is desperate to change people in his society to stop consumerism and so goes on a rampage to bomb the icons of consumerism which in his own wisdom is the credit card companies; this he thinks are the ones that are forcing the people. In The Dark Knight the Joker is also not satisfied with the way life is. So he tries to convert everyone to become like him. Visual codes With regard to visual codes, there are a number of similarities as well as differences between the two. One of these similarities can be seen in lighting techniques. Although the Dark Knight uses much less lighting throughout the film compared to the Fight Club, both can be said to use on average less lighting. This has a symbolic meaning. For Dark Knight, the symbolic meaning fro using dark light could be the fact that that the Dark Knight is fighting with dark forces. The same symbolic engaging can be seen in the Fight Club. The dark lighting in the Fight Club also goes to match well with the theme of the movie. Sounds Dust Brothers were used in developing score for the Fight Club film. They used a post-modern score because the producers of the film wanted to break new ground with regard to the sound effects that the film had. The score for the film included drum loops and electronic scratches. They also sued computerized samples to enhance the feel of the film with regard to its soundtracks. However, while Fight Club was seeking to have a different post modern theme, The Dark Knight was a traditional one, but one ha matches the theme of the film. Using make up for special characters The Dark Knight has used a lot of facial makeup to create special characters. For example the joker and his monster-like looks that make him look like he eats people for food. The Joker looks like a vampire who cannibalizes on people. In the film, the Dark Knight is also featured with a deformed right hand side of his face. Fight Club however does not use these make up techniques but the characters in the film remain to have their natural faces. Dark Knight also uses a lot of costume to match the theme of the movie. This can be seen in Batman’s attire as well as the clown-like outfit that the Joker is seen wearing. However, due to the fact that Fight Club is not a fantasy movie, it does not use these symbolic codes. Scene analysis There is a scene in the Fight Club where Durden challenges a much bigger person than he an ends up being beaten badly. This relates to the Dark Knight film in a number of ways. First, after Durden is beaten up, his face gets distorted and be ends up looking like the Joker. Furthermore the fact that Durden challenges a bigger person than he is and gets a beating is similar to what the Joker does, he always challenges the dark Knight and gets a through beating, but he always services and comes back for another challenge. The same case was with Darden who survived the beating and continues to the anarchist he was. Both The Dark Knight and Fight Club utilize the idea of an outcast who does not fit well with society and who has uncommon ideas that the society should be changed. Not only that, the antagonist on both the films seems to have a low perception of humanity. In The Dark Knight for instance, The Joker does not care about a normal life and wants everybody to have the same idea about life. He is happy whenever he is able to turn people against each other and wants to cause mayhem. The same is seen in Fight Club where the Durden looks down on humanity. In one of his training sessions when he was training his recruitees, he reiterated to them that they were neither special nor more valuable than anything else in the world, and that they would all die decay (Beastman, 2013). His negative attitude towards humanity may be explained by the fact that he probably had a hard time before he and the narrator decided to start the fight club (Jonathan, 2001). This link between the Joker and Durden is seen in a number of ways in the Dark Knight. In the Dark Knight the Joker does not have a real name and only goes as the Joker. In Fight Club, the narrator never reveals his real name and only offers the story even if he is a major character in the story. He brings himself in the story and then stays at the background. This brings more speculation as to whether the Joker in the Dark Knight is a continuation of the narrator or the Durden who was seen to die at the end of the Fight Club. It must be noted that the narrator in the Dark Knight survived the bombing and therefore it can also be said that he may have come out to become the Joker (Brandon, 1999). It is imperative to understand that the narrator was placed in an asylum where he probably broke out from to become the Joker in The Dark Knight. This theme is maintained in the two movies. In Fight Club which is the earlier movie, we see things ending in an unclear way (David, 1999). The way the movie ends is such that there is no way to tell what exactly happened. Although it becomes quite clear that the Durden dies but the narrator services, there is no clear indication of the narrator’s fate. Fast forward to the Dark Knight and the movie starts in unclear conditions. The blurring of events at the end of the Fight Club and the blurring of events at the beginning of the Dark Knight may indicate a connection, albeit in a sublime way. Regardless of that the two movies indicate a number of things that seem to depict the American society in a number of ways. To begin with, they take care of the following three factors about the American generation; American Heroism This is especially shown in The Dark Knight the Dark Knight being the hero who protected the society from criminals such as the Joker. He is able to beat up people like the joker and prevent them from causing harm to the society. This attributed towards heroisms is an American thing where heroes are sought and adored and almost worshipped. The same can be seen in the Fight Club. In Fight club, Durden is the man every man wants to be, the bad guy who people do not mess with. This is not just a definition of heroism but a definition of masculinity which in the context of American society is defined by the physical abilities of a person. Conclusion There are a number of issues that come up when comparing the Dark Knight with the Fight Club. First, they do seem to have different themes in that the Dark Knight is more of a fantasy film while the Fight Club is a thriller film. Regardless of that, it is very clear that there are some themes in the movie that are very similar. In fact, so similar that it can be hypothesized that the Dark Knight is a continuation of the Fight Club. With regard to filmic codes, the two films do seem to use similar codes, especially to the light style that was use. Sound effects and visual effects were used not only to make the films interesting but to create the themes of the films. These two films are an indication that films is more than just shooting videos but goes a long way into the choice of sound score to be used as well as how much lighting to use in order to create whatever impression or theme that one intends. At the same time, the use of facial makeup and special costume, especially in the Dark Knight also counts a lot when developing the themes and message of the entire film. Reference list: Beastman, W. (2013). Comments15 Why So Serious, My Beautiful Snowflake? Tyler Durden vs The Joker. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from Wikia: http://deadliestfiction.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:BeastMan14/Why_So_Serious,_My_Beautiful_Snowflake%3F_Tyler_Durden_vs_The_Joker Brandon, G. (2009). Billion Dollar Batman. Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2015. David, G. (1999). Premiere of Fight Club leaves critics slugging it out in Venice. The Ottawa Citizen. Jonathan, B. ( 2001). Fight Club author books pair of deals. Variety. March 11, 2015. Kerstein, B. (2008). Batmans War On Terror. Azure. Retrieved March 11, 2015. Levy, L. (n.d.). Movie Review: Dark Knight, The: A. emanuellevy.com. March 11, 2015. Read More